


it's only been a moment (it's only been a lifetime)

by zhangjunftw



Series: Reincarnation au [2]
Category: NINE PERCENT (Band)
Genre: M/M, is it crack if the actual fic is angsty, my favourite terrible duo is back: dinghao and chaoze are back to question zhangjing's life choices
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27247750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zhangjunftw/pseuds/zhangjunftw
Summary: some extra scenes from zhangjing's POV in 'i gave you everything (but it's a beautiful crime)'
Relationships: Lin Yanjun/You Zhangjing
Series: Reincarnation au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1989439
Comments: 6
Kudos: 3





	it's only been a moment (it's only been a lifetime)

**Author's Note:**

> The devil's on your shoulder  
> The strangers in your head  
> As if you don't remember  
> As if you can forget  
> It's only been a moment  
> It's only been a lifetime  
> But tonight you're a stranger  
> Some silhouette  
> \- silhouette, aquilo

Zhangjing always thought that being trapped inside his own body while being conscious of everything happening around him would be his worst nightmare come true.

Zhangjing couldn't move now, but there was none of the terror that he'd thought that he would feel.

The only spot of light in the room was the flickering light in the lantern, but the dim flame was enough for Zhangjing to see the room - his home (but no, this wasn't his apartment) - what little he could make out of the four walls through his limited vision, through eyes that refused to stay open, no matter how hard he tried - has his body always felt so heavy?

_(A man speaking in tongues to him in the forest, whose words made his heart stutter, made his heart stop - )_

_(" - unto you I place this curse - ")_

The door creaked open, letting in the cool air of the world outside, bringing with it the man and the ever-present scent of rain that always accompanied his presence _("How can you smell of rain, there's not been a single cloud in the sky all day - ") ._

_(" - so you thought of me every time it rained?" ___ chuckled. "If you missed me you could just say it - ")_

____ (for the life of him, why couldn't Zhangjing remember his name?) took the seat by Zhangjing's bed, and his hand reached for Zhangjing's. His hands were always cool to the touch, even on the hottest summer days.

_("How can your hands be so cold, are you sure you're healthy, Yanj- ")_

The flame flickered, and his name slipped from his mind yet again.

_("Here, I'll warm your hands for you - ")_

(but with how cold Zhangjing's own hands were, he didn't think he'd be able to warm up ___'s hands, not this time).

Even through his hazy vision Zhangjing could see the grief carved onto ___'s face, the shine of unshed tears in his eyes. His fingers trembled against Zhangjing's limp hand, and oh, Zhangjing wished he could grasp his hand, to soothe the other and kiss those tears away, because he should never be sad, his face should never ever look like that -

Zhangjing's finger twitched in ___'s hand, and ___ crumbled, breaking Zhangjing's heart as a tear slid down ___'s face. His grip on Zhangjing's cold fingers tightened, and through his hazy vision, Zhangjing could see that his lips were moving, but he couldn't hear the words being said (whispered promises lost to memory and the passage of time) -

" - I'll come back. I promise, so - just wait for me, okay?" ___ whispered, butterfly light against the back of Zhangjing's hand, and Zhangjing felt nothing but dread as he let go of Zhangjing's hand and started to walk away, ignorant to the sudden alarm welling up in Zhangjing as his limbs stubbornly refused to move, no matter how much Zhangjing willed himself to move, to stop him from leaving; but he couldn't move, and his eyes wouldn't stay open.

The door slowly slid close -

* * *

  
"Don't go!" Zhangjing yelled, reaching out -

His ceiling fan whirred back at him.

"Oh." Zhangjing stared up at the familiar ceiling of his apartment bedroom. Blindly reaching out to his bedside table, he turned on his phone. After blinking a few times, his eyes finally focused on the time displayed on the far too bright screen: 3.45 am.

Zhangjing sighed, carefully placing his phone back on the table. Of all the days - The one day he was allowed to sleep in and not have to get up before the sun, that was when he had to wake up in the middle of the night because of a dream involving some handsome stranger. And it wasn't even a good dream.

...Although, if it had been _one of those good dreams_ , then he would have to face a reality where Lin Chaoze might have been right about something. ("It's been how many years since you last went out, come on, Zhangjing, you need to get laid or you're going to die of repressed horniness - " and that was when Zhangjing had lobbed a plush cushion at Chaoze's head ~~and inadvertently started the most vicious pillow fight the world has ever seen~~.)

...actually, if Lin Chaoze was here, no doubt that brat would still tell him the dream was probably his subconscious telling him it was high time to get laid. Zhangjing could practically hear his voice already: "My professional unprofessional opinion is that you need to go out and find your dream guy before it's too late and he slips out of your grasp like dream dude."

Zhangjing groaned, flopping back down on his pillow. Well, he thought, at least he had been alone at home. If this had happened while he was at his office... His colleagues would never let him hear the end of it.

_("- wait for me, okay?")_

Zhangjing slammed the pillow over his face. Nope. Not going to dwell on that. Not at all.

* * *

  
Two months and three dreams later, Zhangjing still had no idea what was the name of the mysterious handsome stranger that he kept seeing in his dreams. He did however, now know which traditional snacks he liked to eat for tea, what his favourite time of the day was, what he looked like half naked and wet from rain -

"But the important question is: did you do _anything_ other than stare at the wet, half-naked, very handsome man? " Lu Dinghao drawled from where he was sprawled out on two-thirds of Zhangjing's sofa.

Chaoze looked expectantly at Zhangjing from his seat on the remaining third of the sofa that he had forcefully claimed from Dinghao, because _"fuck you, there is only one sofa in this house and you've already banished the owner of the apartment to the floor"_.

"No, I did not do anything other than stare at the wet, half-naked, very handsome man." Zhangjing admitted reluctantly.

Chaoze swore loudly, angrily passing Dinghao money. "Thank you very much," Dinghao hummed, tucking the money in his pocket before he threw a balled-up candy wrapper at Zhangjing's head. "You absolute useless gay."

"I didn't invite you to my house to insult me." Zhangjing grumbled.

"Then I don't know why you invited either of us here, because what else did you expect to hear when you tell us you had a wet dream - but then you don't fuck or do anything other than stare at the man. You literally had one fucking job, You Zhangjing." Chaoze hissed, burying his head in the cushion to scream his frustrations out. " _How am I still friends with you, oh my god_."

"If I find any saliva on that cushion later, I will end you with my bare hands, Lin Chaoze."

"If you can't even do anything in a dream what are you going to do when you meet him in real life?" Chaoze bemoaned.

Zhangjing sighed, massaging his forehead in a half-hearted effort to stave off the migraine that he knew was coming. Not this again. "Lin Chaoze, for the last time: we are not characters in some cliché, tragic love story, fanfiction, whatever you want to call it - Dream Dude is just a figment of my overactive imagination. He's not a real person hiding somewhere out there in the world for me to meet."

"Wanna bet? Fifty bucks says that Dream Dude actually exists."

"Why not? It's free money for me."

* * *

  
Somewhere in heaven, God is surely laughing at Zhangjing right now, he thought as he stared at the man standing across the street.

Dream Dude was real. Dream Dude was alive and not merely a figment of his imagination and was standing right across the street in front of him.

Dream Dude was also a lot more handsome in person when seen clearly through eyes that were wide open.

Dream Dude was also standing with another hot guy who was gripping onto his arm in a way that was definitely raising alarms in his head because oh my god was he gay and worse still was he already taken? Had Zhangjing been having dreams about a taken man for the last few months?

No, You Zhangjing was not panicking. Of course not. Banish the thought. No, Zhangjing was just mildly concerned about the whole situation. Very mildly concerned. Was he staring? Should he look away? Oh wait, the traffic light -

The light turned green.

Dream Dude looked up -

(Zhangjing smelled the faintest hint of rain on the air.)

Dream Dude was getting closer. Of course he was, he was crossing the street like a normal, sane person was supposed to when the light turned green, which Zhangjing should also be doing. Right. Okay.

Zhangjing took a step forward -

\- and missed the road entirely. Had that pothole always been there? And now he was falling -

"Look out!"

\- right into Dream Dude's outstretched arms. Zhangjing blinked up at him. Wow, even up close like this, he really did have a good face. Unfair.

" - are you okay?" Dream Dude asked.

"Yeah," Zhangjing cleared his throat, quickly looking away and standing properly. "Thanks, uh -" the green light started blinking. "Oh shit, I need to go - "

"What - " Dream Dude barely managed to say before Zhangjing sprinted across the road, narrowly avoiding a particularly impatient driver who seemed to think that it was the pedestrians who should give way for vehicles rather than the other way around.

(Zhangjing would later learn that he almost gave Yanjun a heart attack with how close he had come to getting run over in front of him.)

Fifteen minutes later, seated in his office, Zhangjing calmly took out his phone and selected Chaoze's number.

"Why the fuck are you calling me before noon?"

"Fuck you too, Lin Chaoze," Zhangjing hissed into his phone. "I owe you fifty bucks."

**Author's Note:**

> why is silhouette such a difficult word to spell ffs its almost as difficult to remember as diarrhea 
> 
> writing this was a spur of the moment decision because 3pm me was struck by the realisation that if i have to stare at my textbook for a single moment longer i will either end up setting it on fire or maybe eat it in the hopes that something would go into my brain. i need sleep and maybe an entire chocolate cake.
> 
> i feel like this is the first time i've allowed myself to swear in a fanfiction lmao. well. this is my birthday gift to myself so i guess i'm allowing it because i think zhangjing deserves the right to swear after all the shit i put him through lol.
> 
> do i want to continue this? hell yeah, i have plans.  
> will i actually continue this? who knows. hopefully yes.
> 
> i'm typing this at 12.30am so actually awake adult kelly might delete this note tomorrow morning if i think it's too much word vomit but anyway thanks for reading, hope you were entertained, leave a comment if you want to, byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee


End file.
